Unless otherwise indicated herein, the description in this section is not prior art to the claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
As a typical image forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic method, an image forming apparatus, such as a printer and a copier, there has been known an image forming apparatus that includes a photoreceptor drum and an intermediate transfer unit. The photoreceptor drum carries an electrostatic latent image. The intermediate transfer unit transfers a toner image onto a sheet from this photoreceptor drum. The intermediate transfer unit includes an intermediate transfer belt and a primary transfer roller to transfer an image with a plurality of colors, which is typically a full-color image, to the sheet. The intermediate transfer belt is opposed to and is wound around a plurality of the photoreceptor drums. A primary transfer voltage applied to the primary transfer roller transfers the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt from respective photoreceptor drums.
There is proposed a technique where respective drum units supporting intermediate transfer unit and photoreceptor drum are removably attachable to an apparatus main body of an image forming apparatus. Additionally, there is proposed an interference preventing member that prevents interference between an intermediate transfer belt and a drum unit when the drum units are mounted and removed.